Harmonising African Revenue Statistics

03/12/2014 - African tax administration representatives gathered under the auspices of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on 25-26 November 2014 to set the framework for harmonising their revenue statistics.

This first meeting of the Revenue Statistics in Africa project brought together tax officials from Cameroon, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia, at the initiative of the OECD Centre for Tax and Policy Administration, the OECD Development Centre, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and the Centre de rencontres et d’études des dirigeants des administrations fiscales (CREDAF).

The project aims to improve the comparability, consistency, quality and accessibility of revenue indicators and data in Africa.

This initiative builds on the OECD Revenue Statistics flagship publication – an annual report presenting a unique set of internationally comparable tax data in a common format. Revenue Statistics reports are produced with an established methodology and process and on a voluntary basis.

Partners in this new initiative are now working towards the publication of the first edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa by early 2016, with a view to extending its coverage beyond the first four participating countries. The project aims to emulate the success of similar partnerships between the OECD and regional organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Asia and Pacific Islands, which take account of each region’s specificities.

By providing statistics that are comparable with those collected for OECD member countries and an increasing number of non-member countries, tax and customs policy makers will have a better statistical foundation for undertaking policy analysis. Comparable statistics will also facilitate transparent tax policy dialogue and provide policy makers with the data necessary to assess alternative fiscal reforms and make relevant policy recommendations for developing and emerging countries.